


If It Means A Lot To You

by orphan_account



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: AU, F/M, Riverdale AU, varchie au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 16:09:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18285710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: He comes back after 6 weeks and he's different. The promise he made her is broken and so is her heart.





	If It Means A Lot To You

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back with another AU that no one asked for. This has been sitting in my docs for a while and I finally decided to start it back up again. There will be about 4-5 parts so hopefully, I can get those out!! 
> 
> Again, thanks for reading, your comments, and the kudos!

_**Prologue:** _

He comes back weird.

When he had left for the hockey program, a week prior to his departure there had been promises made.

Promises that they could try and be together when he returned, that maybe it would be the right time for them.

They were laying under the stars of their small town where he reassured her that the plane wouldn’t fall and she would never see him again, or that he wouldn’t get a concussion and forget who she was, or get in a freak car accident. She was so enamoured with him and had so much faith in them that she didn’t take into account that he could give his heart away to someone else.

She didn’t realize that she could lose him in just six weeks, not after years of her only having his attention.

They had known each other since middle school, ever since Archie had accidentally run her over while he was playing hockey. She had been to all his games to cheer him on. By default, she became friends with Kevin.

Kevin who had also come back different, giving her pitying looks and sad smiles when she tried to talk to Archie but he was too involved with something on his phone. She ignored Kevin’s looks, opting to focus on her on phone and texting her girlfriends about Archie’s strange attitude.

Was it a girl? And if it was, Who was she? Who was this girl who had stolen his heart? He left her Archie but came back someone else’s and she didn’t know how to cope with the broken promises that had once seemed so bright.

She’s at one of the team parties, thrown especially for the guys who had returned a week ago from the states and the team captain had made a special appearance before vanishing, making excuses of being tired from jetlag, though she didn’t believe him because he was back to getting up at his regular time.

He hadn’t even acknowledged her existence. Before he got on that plane it had been years of getting milkshakes after they had both had enough of the social crowd. The hockey player lifestyle was intense to deal with, to say the least. It was all about behaving correctly on and odd the ice in case scouts were watching. Now, his mind was elsewhere and he couldn’t care less about any traditions.

She’s sat outside, sipping on a strawberry milkshake, another to her side. She’s trying to hold back tears but some are slipping past.

“You need to stop crying.” She tells herself. She won’t cry over a boy, not even the one that had stolen her heart so long ago.

“Yeah, you do.” She snaps her head back in the direction of the voice and relaxes when she sees it’s just Kevin.

He walks over to her and sits on the steps next to her. Not saying anything, waiting for her to speak up.

“He promised that we would try but ever since you got back he hasn’t even touched the subject. I don’t know what changed.” Kevin tenses and lets out a breath, sighing.

“He’s in love.” A small sob escapes her and she puts her hand over her mouth to stop herself from completely breaking down. She had obviously suspected that another girl was in the middle of her troubles but it was another thing to have it confirmed.

“Who is she?” She’s wiping tears from her eyes, trying to see Kevin.

“She was the daughter in our billet family. She’s our age and the complete opposite of anyone we have ever met in this place, in this town. I wouldn’t have expected him to ever fall for someone like her but they just clicked.” He’s silent and she wants to get up and leave but she also wants to know everything that happened in the six weeks he was in New York.

“Tell me when it first happened.” She can tell Kevin is about to protest so she glares at him and with one pointed look he goes on.

“There wasn’t really a “moment” per se, it just happened. It was when he walked through the door of the house and she was standing there with her hair up in a ponytail ready to go to the gym, surprise to see two dudes walk into her house carrying baggage bigger than her.” He pauses and she waits with a lump in her throat for him to continue.

“It was when their hands touched when he asked for a glass of water and she handed it to him. It was the way they both recoiled but blushed at the slight graze. It was when she said goodnight the first night and wished him a blissful sleep. It was when she said good morning the second day and wished him a wonderful first day. It was staying up late even though we had practice and it was when she showed him her favourite parts of her city. It was everything from the start to the end of our stay. It happened and he’s restless because he can’t get her out of his head and all he wants to do is to be with her. He misses her so much and I’ve never seen him like this before. They both cried when her parents were going to drop us off at the airport and she couldn’t come.” He stops short, he looks like he forgot he was talking to her and that he’s just realized that every word he said was stabbing deeper and deeper into her.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said all that.” She doesn’t know what comes over her, why instead of crying more, her tears dry up and anger surges through her body exploding out of her mouth.

“He’ll forget her if I have anything to say about it.” She feels the mood change in Kevin, sees the anger building behind his eyes.

She doesn’t blame him, Archie and him have been friends since long before she was in the picture and with the way he talks about this girl, he’s probably fallen platonically in love with her too. And he’s going to protect whatever it is they have going on. Kevin gets up and looks at the milkshake next to her, before starting to walk away.

“He never liked strawberry.” He says disappearing into the alley that leads to the Main Street.

He doesn’t say it with any mal-intent, just a sharp bite of pettiness and it takes her a while to realize that he isn’t talking about the milkshake.

 

she’s standing at his front door the next day, willing herself to knock. She doesn’t know why she’s here or what she wants to say or find out but she’s here and she needs to rip the bandaid off. Turns out, she doesn’t need to, his dad walks out with his dog and smiles at her, letting her in before he leaves. She walks into the kitchen where he’s sitting eating some cereal and surfing through his phone.

“Hey there.” She says softly as to not startle him.

He looks up from his phone and gives her a quick smile and nod before going back to his phone. He types something out quickly and sets it down, looking back up at her.

“You’re up early, what’s up?” She twists her hands together, they’re starting to sweat and she wishes she could just go on ignoring the fact that his heart never belonged to her.

“Just, Kevin told me some things last night and I wanted to get it from you too.” He scrunches his eyebrows and pursed his lips, probably wondering what she could possibly want to clear up.

“You’ve been back a week and I’ve barely seen you and I guess I was wondering if that had to do with the fact that you’ve broken your promise to me?” He looks down at his cereal bowl and fiddles with the spoon.

“I just need to know if it’s true.” She says and he finally looks at her, really looks at her for the first time since he’s been back and she hates what she sees because the pity in his eyes means he’s about to break her heart.

“New York was amazing and I realized that there’s so much more out there than this stupid town, I realized how much I actually hate it here, how much I want and need to get out. I was meant to be something and it’s not going to happen if I stay here.” She has tears collecting in her eyes already and he walks over to her and places a hand on her back, rubbing slightly.

“I’m going back, I have to go back, in October actually, some scouts saw me and offered me a three-year contract with a University. It’s an amazing opportunity, we always talked about this, it’s always been the NHL for me. I can’t stay here.” She moves away from him and his hand drops to his side as he eyes her with confusion. She scoffs, trying to cover up any more sobs.

“But this isn’t just about the NHL anymore.” He shakes his head slightly and she looks down, her tears hitting the floor.

“It just happened.” He says sighing and sitting back down, placing his head in his hands.

“So I’ve heard.” He rubs his face and just stares at her, out of words.

“You promised we could try.” Archie nods a sad smile gracing his lips.

“I didn’t plan on falling for her.” Her heart shatters at that and she knows she’s lost when his phone starts to ring and he stares at her pleading with her to understand and at the same time asking her to leave. She shrugs and starts walking away she opens the door to leave but not before she hears Archie answer the phone. In English no less.

“Hey, babe.” Babe. He’s talking to the girl that stole the one thing she thought was always meant to be hers. The pet name disgusts her and she wishes Archie had never met her. She hears the pure joy in his voice though and she wants to take those thoughts back immediately.

What kind of friend doesn’t want their friend to be happy?

She’s halfway down the driveway when she sees Kevin pull up and get out of his car.

“Kevin.” She nods at him, not wanting to make conversation.

“Betty.”


End file.
